Hi
I've been reading and searching this board for the last month but this is my first post. Please bear with me if this is a stupid question.

I had an EGD done about a month ago but now my Dr. want me to go for a GI barium swallow. Don't you usually have the barium test done before the EGD. Doesn't the EGD show more than the barium test would? I'm curious to what the reasoning might be.

Originally posted by wendyk:Hi
I've been reading and searching this board for the last month but this is my first post. Please bear with me if this is a stupid question.

I had an EGD done about a month ago but now my Dr. want me to go for a GI barium swallow. Don't you usually have the barium test done before the EGD. Doesn't the EGD show more than the barium test would? I'm curious to what the reasoning might be.

Thanks in advance

Wendy

i'm not a dr or anything, but i just had an endoscopy done. (before that, i was told i could either have an endoscopy or a barium swallow. if the barium swallow didn't show anything, the endoscopy would be done. i chose to do the endoscopy.) well, the endoscopy was normal, so i am not being offered the barium swallow. i had the same understanding that you did, that the endoscopy was more thorough than the barium swallow.

sorry i can't be of more help. maybe someone else will know why your dr is still wanting you to do the barium test.

I've had both done and I believe the barium swallow is used not only to looks at your stomach but also looks at your small intestine. The endoscopy is the best for looking at your throat, stomach and first part of small intesting but it can't tell if you have a blockage in your small intestine. I thank your symptoms should clue your doctor in on what test to do. I have done many tests because I can't seem to pinpoint what is causing my discomfort.